The 10 most anticipated new TV shows of 2023

A new year can only mean one thing…new TV shows to binge. While there are dozens of new titles to get excited about, these are of particular interest as we start the new year.

1. The Last of Us – HBO

The Last of Us is one of the most popular video game franchises on the PlayStation and most fans of the series will argue that the reason that the series is so successful is because of the story that the games tell, and the emotions that the story is able to evoke.

Many of fans hold The Last of Us as the best example of how it is possible to tell a complex and engrossing story in the video game medium. Because the story is such a strong argument for why the games are as well received as they are, it’s no surprise that an adaptation of the story would be highly anticipated.

The series is airing on HBO, and it stars two actors who both made a splash in Game of Thrones. Pedro Pascal plays Joel, and Bella Ramsey plays Ellie, the young girl that he is charged with transporting across the country.

With the little bit of footage that we’ve seen, the series appears to be recreating the bleak but emotional tone of the games successfully. It looks like the series might pull off the seemingly impossible task of giving us a stellar mature video game adaptation.

2. Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

People tend to forget these days, but Grease was an unquestionable phenomenon when it was released. In 1978, Grease was the highest grossing movie of the year, beating out the likes of Superman released in the same year.

The film would go on to become the highest grossing musical of all time and was Paramount’s second highest grossing movie of all time behind The Godfather. Given that it was released the same decade as franchise starters like Star Wars, Jaws, and the aforementioned Superman, it seems obvious that this kind of success would lead to an entire Grease franchise getting kicked off.

Instead, there was a single sequel that was a flop and then nothing else for forty years. In 2023, there will finally be the next installment in the Grease franchise.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is set four years before the events of the movie and tells the story of the students that created the group that would come to be known as the Pink Ladies. Musical television shows have had a checkered history, with some successes (such as Glee) and some high-profile failures (Cop Rocks and Viva Laughlin), so it will be interesting to see where this one lands on the scale.

3. Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry was one of the breakout book debuts of 2022. Set in the 1960s, the book tells the story of a woman who wants to be a successful scientist, but instead finds herself the host of a popular cooking program on television.

Using her cooking show, she begins to teach housewives of the era cooking lessons as her popularity begins to grow. The book appeared on several top ten lists at the end to 2022, so it’s no surprise that an adaptation wasn’t far behind.

The series is expected to star Brie Larson and will debut on Apple TV+ sometime in the next year.

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s trilogy, is a series of books by Douglas Adams, that explores what happens to the few remaining humans after the destruction of the planet. There is no question that the first book in the series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of the best sci-fi novels of all time.

It has received countless accolades since it’s publication, and is still one of the most beloved novels in the genre today. The popularity of the book means that this isn’t the first adaptation of the franchise.

There was already a television show on the BBC in 1981, and a feature adaptation starring Martin Freeman in 2005. In fact, by some definitions, the book itself should be considered an adaptation since the radio drama was actually the first version of the story to be produced.

It’s not surprising that there will continue to be attempts to adapt the book, or the series that it spawned. While most fans consider the previous adaptations to have fallen well short of the novel, there’s always hope that the next adaptation will be the one to really get it right.

The series was first announced in 2019 and was supposed to premiere on Hulu in 2021.  However, the project was delayed by COVID.

The latest report on the series suggested that production finally started on the project back in May of 2021, so we will hopefully get a release date at some point in 2023.

5. Win or Lose

Pixar is one of the most dominant studios in the realm of animated movies. Ever since they first started releasing feature length projects back in 1995, their lineup of films has been almost universally acclaimed from Finding Nemo to The Incredibles, to The Toy Story franchise.

Pixar also has somewhat cornered the market on short films, with many of their most memorable projects able to get audiences to emotionally invest in a story or a character in less than five minutes. Now, for the first time, Pixar is putting out a television series headed for Disney+ in 2023.

The series, Win or Lose, follows a co-ed middle school softball team in the week before their big championship game. Each episode of the series will cover the same timeline of events, but from the perspective of a different character.

This style of storytelling will also allow each episode to have a different animation style that will further distinguish each character from the others. The series represents uncharted territory for the production studio, but Pixar’s stellar record is enough to put this one on the list.

6. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

Bridgerton has been a smash success for Netflix. For two seasons, the regency era romance has been one of the most viewed shows ever on the platform.

While it doesn’t look like season 3 is going to make it to the platform in 2023, that doesn’t mean you will have to be entirely without Bridgerton content this year. While the show is based on a series of books about a family of eight children all falling in love, one by one, the show has expanded the world out to include new characters such as Queen Charlotte.

This new limited series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, will serve as a prequel focusing on the younger years of this character and explore her rise to power. The series will include younger versions of other characters as well such as the fan favorite Lady Danbury, as we get to see the relationship between these two characters form.

7. Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender is without a doubt, one of the best television series of all time. Not just one of the best animated series and not just one of the best children’s series.

It is one of the best television shows ever produced. Fans of the show have jumped at every possible chance for the franchise to be expanded, and while there are rumors of future movies and series set in the universe of the original show, the next part of the franchise that will be released is Netflix’s live action adaptation of the original show.

Now, live action hasn’t been the best of experiences for this franchise in the past. The live action film adaptation of the show from 2010, is universally criticized.

Many fans choose to act as though it doesn’t even exist. So, the live action element of this new adaptation has some fans concerned.

However, new Avatar is new Avatar, and the cultural touchstone of the show is so big at this point, that it will still be worth tuning in to see how a second attempt at telling this story in live action plays out.

8. Marvel Shows

Marvel has plans to release so many new series in 2023, that it’s easier to put them all in one slot, so that the entire list isn’t made up of only Marvel titles. The biggest release from Marvel is Secret Invasion, an event series that is scheduled to have six episodes.

Secret Invasion has been one of the more well-known events from the comic side of Marvel, and this series appears to be adapting that storyline, with some adjustments of course. Samuel L. Jackson is returning as Nick Fury along with Ben Mendelson, Colbie Smulders, Martin Freeman, and Don Cheadle reprising their MCU roles as well.

Another new Marvel series scheduled to debut in 2023, is Echo, starring Alaqua Cox in the titular role. Alaqua Cox first played the role in 2021’s Hawkeye television series and is expected to have close ties to the upcoming Daredevil revival since the character tends to show up in Daredevil storylines in the comics.

Also, Charlie Cox has been confirmed to be in the Echo series as well. Marvel is also creating a spinoff for another fan favorite in Agatha: Coven of Chaos.

While we likely won’t be getting a second season of WandaVision anytime soon, given the MCU events that have followed the series, the best new character from WandaVision is back with her own TV show. Kathryn Hahn returns as Agatha Harkness, in a show that’s being described as a black comedy for the MCU.

9. Star Wars shows

Just like Marvel, there are enough brand-new Star Wars shows scheduled to come out in 2023, that they’re going to need to share a slot in order to keep the list to ten. The two biggest new series set in the galaxy far far away are Ahsoka and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

Ahsoka sees Rosario Dawson returning to play Ahsoka Tano. While Ahsoka first appeared in The Clone Wars, she made her live action debut in the second season of The Mandalorian.

With Dawson returning to play the character in live action again, it looks like this series will take place in the same era as The Mandalorian, set between Episodes VI and VII. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew will be set in the same time frame as well.

While not much is known about the story for this new series, it was pitched as doing an “Amblin Entertainment” style of story set in the Star Wars universe. Series creator Christopher Ford has specifically cited The Goonies as an inspiration for Skeleton Crew.

In May of 2022, it was announced that Jude Law would be starring in the series, though nothing is known about his character yet.

10. Something you don’t even know about yet

One of the most interesting parts about television is how often the show that ends up being the biggest hit of the year often comes out of nowhere. Shows like Squid Game and Stranger Things didn’t have fans eagerly anticipating their debuts for months before they came out, yet they both became cultural forces because they happened to be the right show for the right moment in time.

There are plenty of shows that will debut in the next twelve months that haven’t even been announced yet. While the shows on this list all have a good chance of making a lasting cultural impact, and all have fans eagerly waiting to see them premiere.

It will be just as likely that by the time 2023 comes to a close, the TV show that we’re all going to be talking about is something that we don’t even know the title of yet.

Which of the following TV shows are you most excited about this year? Share your answers in the comments below!